


Born to die

by Meruryan



Category: Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, Dark, F/M, and after MOA it became AU, kind of, written before Mark of Athena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-19
Updated: 2013-01-19
Packaged: 2017-11-26 03:03:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/645847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meruryan/pseuds/Meruryan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Percy, be honest with me. If this was the other way around, would you leave? After all these years, after everything, would you be willingly separated from me again when you had another option?"</p>
<p>Looking at her beautiful, dusty, tear-streaked face, I knew the answer. I could never leave her to die, not like this, not alone, not when I had the choice to stay with her. I don’t think either of us could really keep going, living, fighting anymore if we didn’t have each other. At least I couldn’t.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Born to die

**Author's Note:**

> All right, I wrote this a loong time ago and before MOA came out so it's... I promise nothing. But I thought, hey, it's on fanfiction.net so I might as well put it here, too. I did edit it a bit, so this is hopefully somewhat improved from those times. It's short, it's dark, and it's percabeth. Title and inspiration came from the song Born to die by Lana Del Rey.

We were running for our lives.

I admit, I do that pretty often, but this wasn't your average oh-my-gods-we're-going-to-die kind of running, but more like   
oh-my-gods-if-we-get-crushed-under-this-mountain-the-giants-will-win-our-friends-will-die-and-the-world-as-we-know-it-will-end kind. Yeah, something like that.

Back to running.

Gaea had tricked us underground and was doing her best to collapse our tunnel. I was trying to control the earthquakes and Hazel was leading us the right way while holding the tunnel up with her powers. Jason and Frank were right behind her, ready for any monsters that might wait for us ahead. Leo and Piper came after them, Leo providing us light with his flaming hand. Annabeth and I were last, fighting off the few monsters that kept coming at us from Zeus knows where.

I was wearing down, and I guessed Annabeth was too. We had been fighting for too long and Riptide was starting to feel heavy in my hand. Annabeth's breathing was rough, but when she glanced back at me over her shoulder, her eyes shone with energy.

Some more running and a couple of monsters later, things started to go really wrong. The mountain was shook by the strongest earthquake yet. I skidded to a halt and used all my strength and concentration to fight the tremors.

Unfortunately, while I was distracted with doing my "Son of the Earthshaker" thing, another servant of Gaea's sneaked up on me from behind and slashed at my back. I took a wild swipe at it, but it dodged, snarled at me and lunged for my left shoulder. I fell on my back with a cry and my concentration broke. The bite made my shoulder feel like it was on fire. The monster hovered above me, preparing to finish me off, but right then, Annabeth's knife flew through the air and the creature turned into a cloud of dust with an indignant wail.

Now that there was no one stopping her, Gaea's full wrath crashed upon us. Through my hazy vision, I saw Hazel stumbling as she struggled with the enormous effort of keeping the tunnel from collapsing. I was still too dazed from the pain to help. I could hear yelps and the sound of people falling down as the earth shook all around us.

The earthquake became even more violent and I heard a familiar voice screaming my name. After that, the world turned into a mess of crumbling and falling stone, dust, and agony.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. I would've screamed in pain if I hadn't been in danger of suffocating from the dust if I opened my mouth. Time seemed to drag on as I was slowly getting buried alive.

And then it was over. I breathed in deeply, then winced at the sharp pain that erupted from my shoulder and lungs. 

I heard voices, and soon there was someone clearing rubble off of me. Annabeth's voice reached my ears from somewhere close. "Percy! Percy, can you hear me?"

I cracked my eyes open and saw Annabeth's face hovering over mine. Her expression morphed from concern to relief, and then right back to concern. "Can you feel your legs?"

It hadn't really hit me until she said that. I did feel them, and I was hoping I didn't. They hurt like Hades. Like fire. I glanced at them and winced. Like they were crushed under a few tons of rock.

"I can," I croaked, wincing again.

I could see Leo and Piper behind Annabeth, and Jason a little further away. Hazel and Frank were standing at the very edge of my line of sight. They were all pale-faced and covered in dust and sweat.

Annabeth was digging through her backpack and soon brought out a flask of nectar. She poured some of it on my shoulder wound and let me drink a few sips. I inhaled sharply as the drink stung at the wound, then relaxed when it eased my pain and cleared my mind-- just in time, for Gaea hadn't given up yet.

The tunnel started to shake again, and Hazel abruptly stiffened as she closed her eyes to support the tunnel. I squeezed my eyes shut in concentration, trying to calm the earthquake, but it was just too strong. I gasped, "Go! Leave me!"

I had expected the protests, but they still warmed my heart. Through the various sounds of protest I could make out Frank's deep "We're not leaving you!" and Piper's high and melodic "You can't be serious, Percy!" I saw the fire on Leo's hand that was threatening to spread all over him. I was surprised that Annabeth stayed silent and had instead started moving away the rocks covering my entire lower body. It was impossible, but before I could say anything about it, Gaea doubled her efforts.

"I can't hold the tunnel much longer here," Hazel warned us, her voice strained. 

"Go!" I managed through gritted teeth. Again, there were protests, but they were cut short when a chunk of the ceiling came crashing down.

While everyone was recovering, I caught Jason's eye, who was wearing a pained expression. I sent him a meaningful look, knowing he would understand. We were alike in many ways, and I knew he, too, had accepted the fact that there were things larger and greater than a single person.

He sent me a regretful look in return, letting me know he didn't want to do this. Then he gathered his Roman authority and said, "We can't stay here; the tunnel won't last much longer!"

"No!" came the immediate response from Leo. "We can't leave him to die!" He looked horrified and was steaming all over from panic and frustration.

"We don't have a choice!" I was surprised to see tears on Jason's cheeks. Maybe I shouldn’t have been. "It's either P-Percy," his voice cracked on my name, "or all of us! We can’t stay here, there’s no time!"

Nobody spoke. They knew it was true. Annabeth was still desperately trying to clear away the stones, her lips a tight line.

The quake eased enough for me to regain my ability to speak. "The world is not going to end because of me! You have to leave me, it's the only way! I’ll be fine!"

I stared at the ceiling blankly. I didn't want to see the tears.

Jason went to Annabeth, who was still kneeling next to me, trying to move the rubble. He asked her something, too quiet for me to hear over the rumbling of the earth. She answered shortly and sharply. He didn't give up, and finally she turned to look at him and told him something. He blinked, and got a strange, awed, and a little sad expression. She turned back to the rocks, completely ignoring him. 

The mountain shook violently again, creating cracks in our tunnel. "Go!" Jason and I yelled simultaneously. Giving me one last look, Hazel ran to lead the way again. “Percy-“ Frank started, his face unreadable, but I silenced him with a pleading look. Finally, reluctantly, he followed Hazel. Soon only Jason was left. He looked at me with pain in his eyes and said, "I'm sorry."

I nodded, giving him a small smile to tell him that I didn't blame him, and he ran after the others.

For a while, I concentrated completely on the earthquake, but once its centre moved away from where I was, I realized Annabeth was still working on the dauntingly high pile of stone and rubble. My stomach clenched in fear.

"What are you doing? You have to go before they get too far!"

"I'm not going," she said, not even looking at my way.

"Please," I begged, although I knew it wouldn't work.

She finally gave up on freeing me from under the weight of the rocks and turned to face me instead. There was an intense fire in her eyes.

"Percy, be honest with me. If this was the other way around, would you leave? After all these years, after everything, would you be willingly separated from me again when you had another option?"

Looking at her beautiful, dusty, tear-streaked face, I knew the answer. I could never leave her to die, not like this, not alone, not when I had the choice to stay with her. I don’t think either of us could really keep going, living, fighting anymore if we didn’t have each other. At least I couldn’t.

I remembered how back at the Styx, when my whole being was dissolving and nothing else mattered in this mortal world enough to keep me here, she was the one who appeared to me. And when I forgot almost everything, even myself, she was the one I remembered. The two of us had long ago reached the point of no return, and we hadn't even slowed down while crossing it.

"No. I wouldn't."

It hurt. It hurt so bad that she was going to die for me, because of me-- _with me_ \-- but I knew nothing I could do would change it. (If it was the other way around, there would be nothing she could say that would make me leave her.)

The Fates truly are cruel, but, if I'm completely honest with myself, I knew my luck couldn't last forever. I'm a hero, and heroes don't get happily ever afters. Nothing can change the fact that demigods are born to fight, born to die. At least Aphrodite would get her tragic love story.

We were both crying freely now. Annabeth leaned in to give me a light kiss. I barely felt it.

"I love you, Seaweed Brain."

"I love you too, Wise Girl."

I closed my eyes and felt her breath on my cheek as she whispered: "We'll see each other in Elysium. It'll only be a moment, and then we'll have the rest of eternity, just for us. We'll meet Silena and Beckendorf again, and all the others too. Percy?"

I smiled to let her know I had heard her. I felt Gaea turning her attention back to us. She was furious. Her prey had escaped. Well, not all of it…

It was hard, but I managed to open my eyes. (only a moment now, and I could stop fighting) I had to see her, I had to look at her for as long as I could. We would have afterlife, but... I don't think it's quite the same.

I wasn't worried about our friends. They had made it out, and they were strong. They could defeat Gaea, and Annabeth and I had played our parts already.

The earthquakes started again, but Annabeth kept talking over the rumble, her fingers running through my messy hair gently as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Remember our first quest? When we went to the tunnel of love? And how we got past Cerberus? Then at the sea of monsters, with Tyson. You were cute as a guinea pig, you know." She gave me a wan smile through her tears.

She kept talking about our adventures together until I couldn't hear her over the goddess's rage anymore.

I looked into her gray eyes. There were cracks on the ceiling above us, and the ground was rumbling louder than ever.

I saw her mouth four words. _I love you, Percy._

And the mountain collapsed on us.


End file.
